Peanut Butter Blueberry Smoothie

I remember the first smoothie I ever had.  My mom used to make them for us as a quick breakfast before school.  She would put milk, vanilla, banana and a raw egg.  They were delicious.  Today I would substitute the raw egg for vanilla protein powder but I don't think there's anything wrong with raw egg - though why we weren't allowed eat the raw cookie dough still evades me.

A quick and easy breakfast that can get all four food groups involved, I practically live off them.  I keep frozen fruit on hand and stick bananas that are starting to brown in the freezer (though sometimes I use those for banana bread) and I always have yogurt and milk in the fridge.  A combination of anything will do - just blend and drink!

After a night out on the town last year, a friend made me a smoothie that she dubbed a hangover cure.  It wasn't magic, let's face it, but it helped.  Though I was dubious about one of the ingredients - peanut butter.  I love the stuff but I wasn't sure how it would work in a smoothie.  Let's just say - it works.  It really works.

Inspired - I made this one for myself.  I had some blueberries in the fridge, a tablespoon or so of peanut butter, a cup of milk (you could use plain or vanilla yogurt) and a frozen banana and blend, blend, blend - I use a hand blender.  It's thick, creamy and because of the frozen banana, just the right amount of cold.  Get ready to start your day off right!

Something For The Long Weekend

French toast, or as it's known here, eggy bread is one of my favourite weekend breakfasts.  Not so much for the other half.  So when he's not around, I take full opportunity to make it.  And, depending on my sugar needs, I'll top them with brown sugar and maple syrup or jam or icing sugar, just depends on my mood.  While I was in Canada, I whipped myself up this delicious treat:

I was about to dig in when my cousin sort of screeched, "Aren't you going to take a picture of it??!"  So here is my very selfish and indulgent morning breakfast.  And I only felt a little bad that I hadn't made any for anyone else, but as they say "you snooze, you lose".  I was on British time and the rest of the house was on normal sleep in Canadian time. Oh well.

Have a Happy Easter and enjoy your weekend!

Peanut Butter Banana French Toast for 1

1 egg
a splash of milk
sprinkle of cinnamon
3 slices of bread
peanut butter
1 banana
maple syrup
butter or oil for frying

Whisk the egg, milk and cinnamon together in a bowl large enough to lay 1 slice of bread into.  Dip either side of the bread in the egg mixture making sure all of the bread has been coated.  Fry for a few minutes on either side until golden brown.  

Spread peanut butter on one side of each of the French toast slices, top with banana slices and layer each piece of bread.  Pour over desired amount of maple syrup - for me, that means a lot!

An Unofficial Pinterest Challenge and Ooey Gooey Goodness

I have been following the goings on over at Young House Love for a few years now.  Along with Bower Power, Decor and the Dog and The Remodeled Life they hosted an unofficial Pinterest Challenge; take something you've pinned, put your own spin on it, blog about it and link up.  Well, I've made a few crafts I've pinned but had only drooled over the recipes.  So, I read the post, took a look at my Favourite Recipes board, had a quick scan of my pantry and 10 minutes later my challenge  began.

I first began by challenging myself not to leave the house in order to make what I wanted - no going to the grocery store to pick up missing ingredients.  That would involve dressing.  And running a brush through my hair.

This was my inspiration:

Image from The Bite Sized Baker

                         
I had the ingredients for chocolate chip cookies - only just.  I had exactly the right amount of flour needed.  Phew.  I made chocolate chip cookie dough.

I also had Carnation Caramel - or so I thought.  I had picked up regular old condensed milk.  The challenge became more intense.  I opted not to boil the can in a pot of water for 3 hours because I didn't want to wait that long and couldn't face the challenge of cleaning condensed milk off the ceiling when said can exploded.  Instead, I stood by the stove, constantly stirring the milk until it became caramel.

After half an hour it still looked the same.

Forty-five minutes later it stated to look like caramel.

An hour later I was satisfied with what I had and a little fed up.  Always, always, read the label carefully and know what you're buying.

How could I put my own spin on this?  Well, I made the bloody caramel from scratch - wasn't that personal enough?!  I really needed to get these made; I was getting hungry and grumpy.  The two feelings go hand in hand.  I grabbed a package of Reese's Peanut Butter Chips I had brought over from Canada on my last visit in October.  And then I began to layer.

I was pretty impressed with myself.  I had completed the challenge and I was still in my pyjamas.  I'm not even going to tell you what time it was.  I still needed to blog about it and link up to the post over at YHL but I'd get to it.  Sure.  I'd get to it.

Then I flew home to Canada for my mom's hip replacement and completely forgot about it (she's doing great by the way).  Challenge not completed.  But, I did make caramel from scratch and gave several people in my neighbourhood a major sugar high when I realised I would make myself sick if I ate anymore and posted a picture on Facebook asking those who wanted some to come and get 'em!

Make these - they're awesome.  Just be sure to have a lot of people around to help you eat them.

Chocolate Chip Cookie and Caramel Peanut Butter Chip Bars AKA Ooey Gooey Goodness
Adapted from The Bite Sized Baker

For the chocolate chip cookies either make your favourite recipe or follow this one adapted from the Joy of Baking:


1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

For the filling:
Carnation Caramel Condensed Milk
Peanut Butter Chips

In a large bowl, beat butter and sugars.  Whisk in eggs one at a time and add vanilla.  In another bowl, whisk dry ingredients together.  Slowly add dry mix to wet mixture until fully incorporated.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Add half of the cookie dough to a square non-stick baking pan (I used a silicone pan) and flatten to cover the bottom of the pan with dough.  Bake at 190 degrees Celsius for 8-10 minutes.  

Remove from the oven and pour the caramel over the cookie base.  Sprinkle peanut butter chips to cover the caramel and add the rest of the cookie dough by placing dollops over the top and gently spreading it out to cover the chips.  Bake for 15-20 minutes or until cookie top is golden brown.  Allow pan to fully cool on a wire rack before slicing into bars.

Option:
If you can't get your hands on peanut butter chips try adding a 1/4 cup of peanut butter to the caramel and top with chocolate chips instead.  I haven't tried this but would have had I not had any peanut butter chips available.

Peanut Butter Cookies

All aboard the baking train.  Woo woo - I've been busy today.  I'll start with a favourite - ah, who am I kidding, they're all favourites!

When I was back in Canada, I picked up a large jar of Kraft peanut butter, among other Canadian favourites.  And although you can use any peanut butter for this recipe, for me, this is the best.  These cookies remind me of our school packed lunches as children, as my mom used to bake them for us quite a lot.  Not traditionally a Christmas cookie per say, I do like to add them to the collection purely for the memories.

Another oldie but a goodie from the mom (adapted from Better Homes and Gardens, no doubt) I give you:
 
Peanut Butter Cookies 

3/4 cup butter (room temperature)
1/2 cup brown sugar (lightly packed)
1/2 granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup peanut butter
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

In a large bowl, beat butter for about 1 minute.  Add both sugars and cream together until smooth (it goes crumbly before it gets smooth).  Beat in vanilla, egg and peanut butter.  In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt.  Slowly stir in the flour mixture until incorporated.

Roll into balls (I weighed them at 20 grams each) and coat with white sugar.  Place on a baking tray about 2 cm apart and press with a fork.  Bake for 8-10 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius.

Makes approximately 3 1/2 dozen cookies.

So, tell me - what do you include in you Christmas baking? Stick to the same things every year or switch it up?